I cant believe the good run we have had over the last week five from five here in Sunny Norfolk. I am feeling a bit gutted too as I have missed
Breckland Astronomical societies first star party & I have a week of night to do starting tonight so the skies are bound to get even better!!. I shouldn't complain either as I have addeed a handful of Pics to my own messier chart
Having bagged a few galaxies this week I turned my attention to the old and weary (globulars) that is....
M5 & M53 became the clusters of choice.
M5
Astronomers like Messier, Kirch, Koehler & Bode all described their first observations of M5 back in the mid 1700's as a nebula without stars. It wasn't until 1783 when William & Caroline Herschel viewed through their 7 & 20 foots reflector. it was resolved into the myriad of stars we can capture today. Although Caroline still mistook it for a comet.
M53 & Ngc 5053
M53 and NGC5053 are shown in this field. M53 is the bright globular
cluster in the centre; NGC5053 is the dimmer globular cluster in the lower right. ngc5053 is about 53,500 light years distant from Earth which is close to
the distance of M53. This puts both globular clusters relatively close to each
other in space. I had made a slight miscalculation and thought I could not fit both in the same field of view. I only looked at the framing of M53 in my test image. I will have to have another go sometime framing them both appropriately.
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